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At least not so much lately in America. Of course, cynics would say that, by merely parroting the propaganda of the powerful, they are doing PRECISELY their job, because that’s what they’re kept around for in the first place. And, well, I guess the cynics would probably be right. But appearances of speaking truth to power must be kept up, and so occasionally some journalists are let off their leash for a little bit to retrieve a juicy story.

And so, although it appears this is Punkassblog Beat-on-the-Press Day, I thought I’d just be a contrarian and point out that there is one big American press chain bucking the trend: McClatchy Newspapers. Now, granted, they’re nowhere as big as AP, but they’re no small potatoes either.

What’s got to be the biggest thing working in their favor was that they were the only major newspaper group who consistently criticized the Bush Administration’s rationales for war prior to the invasion of Iraq. (Well, actually, Knight-Ridder was, but McClatchy bought Knight-Ridder two years ago, and the same staff continues to work for them.)

Now maybe McClatchy doesn’t always manage to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”, as the trope about the press goes, but they certainly have their moments.

Just the other day, they featured this story about the response in Iraq to the complete lack of punishment to seven of the eight US marines charged in the three-year-old Haditha massacre. In which nobody denies that they killed 24 innocent civilians, male and female, of all ages from toddler to elderly.

Iman Waleed lost everyone in her family save her little brother. The 12-year-old tells the story quickly and matter-of-factly now. She’s told it at least 20 times to journalists, investigators and human rights groups.

“The Americans came in and they entered through the kitchen door. My father was in the room reading the Quran and they shot him,” she says in a monotone voice, her green eyes looking at the floor.

Then, she continued, they threw a bomb and killed her grandfather, and then they killed her grandmother. Her uncles were next, she said. The first died instantly and the second was shot more than once. Finally the Marines came to the living room where Iman cowered with her mother and two young brothers. They shot her mother and her three-year-old brother that was cradled in her arms. She and her brother Abdul Rahman, nine at the time, were wounded but survived.

Her brother still does not speak of that day. According to Iman, he’s afraid to talk about it. He plays with his cousin of the same age in the house where they live with an uncle and pretends that it never happened.

For Iman it is the memory of the family that she lost that is hardest to talk about. Everything is “normal,” now she says. Her life continues.

“I miss every one of them,” she said. “I wish I could forget it … I think about it less now.”

The legal rationales behind the dismissal of many charges against the Marines don’t matter to the Iraqi families. They told the world there was a massacre, they said, and still no one listened.

“What should we do?” Abdul Razak said. “They are all found innocent. What more do they need?…They shouldn’t have been found innocent.”

Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, the only Marine whose fate remains undecided (the other seven have already gotten off scot free), had 18 murder charges dropped or dismissed. There’s still an involuntary manslaughter charge hanging over his head though. It’s possible he may be found guilty of that, at least, since several of the other Marines were granted immunity from prosecution in return for testifying against him.

Of course, the ones who should really be brought up on charges are the crooks who, for no just reason, sent these kids into this mess in the first place.

McClatchy also published an amazing series called “Guantanamo: Beyond the Law” a little over a week ago, which deals with prisoner abuse– in large part of completely innocent people, held with no legal recourse– in US-run prisons as part of the GWOT. The title references Guantanamo, but actually their investigation went far further. It’s a nice little site. Every mention of an ex-detainee they interviewed links to a small essay about the man with a photo. There are video interviews and original research documents there, too. It’s really worth going and taking a look.

• 6/15: We got the wrong guys
  
• 6/16: ‘I guess you can call it torture’
• 6/17: A school for Jihad
• 6/18: ‘Due process is legal mumbo-jumbo’
• 6/19: ‘You are the king of this prison’

I’m still skeptical as to whether our press is actually healthy enough for our democracy to survive. But it certainly doesn’t have a chance unless we recognize and support it whenever a news organization with some actual reach actually shows they are regularly making an effort to fight the power.

So, good for you, McClatchy.*
*NOTE: I am not being paid to shill for McClatchy. Though I’m certainly willing to to take their money. McClatchy, babe, call me anytime.